This month the Arts Council England approved our first-stage funding bid to further develop HOAX. With all the cuts to arts funding that are happening, it's a massive achievement. I'm thrilled! And so grateful to everyone who helped to make it happen. Thank you, sincerely.

Amongst other things, the funding allowed us to carry out a full week's research and development for HOAX My Lonely Heart, in order to explore our ideas of how to go about translating this story from written script to musical physical theatre performance.

And so, March 4th to 8th.... Benji, Ben and me, along with performers Stephen Myott-Meadows, Nicola London and Curtis Cole, in a large empty room, on the top floor of Royal Exchange's rehearsal building, Swan Street, Manchester, morning till evening, for a week.

And what a week. Intense? Powerful? Highly charged? These words don't come close.

Try 'Emotional anti-gravity', 'Uncontrolled danger', 'Pinned like butterflies', 'Literally breathtaking,' 'Monstrous... MONSTROUS… and yet more monstrous'. Just some of the territories we entered as the week went on.

At the end of the week, joined by Producer Pippa and camera connoisseur Jamie Alun Price, we held a sharing; showing sketches of our ideas to an invited few in order to get their feedback. Even though I’d been there all week, and even though these were just initial ideas and parts of scenes, seeing all of Benji’s, Ben’s and the performers’ hard work come together on the last day was incredible.

Astonishingly affecting, emotional and mesmerising work.

HOAX really is a very special project. I’m so proud of the immense talent gathering around it, of the energies driving it forward….